European Christmas Market — Attraction in Saint Paul

HARASSED BY PARKING ATTENDANT

we paid the $10 with a woman and she told us to pull ahead, we asked her what way to go next and she ignored us. so we started driving ahead, all the sudden we hear a slam on the side of the car. we thought someone hit us. instead, another parking attendant is walking toward us with his hands in the air in exasperation. my mom shows him the ticket and says we already paid. he says, “you have an attitude don’t you?”

my mom replies, that she just thought he was trying to get her to pay again. he again, complains that she has an attitude. my mom told him that he hit our car. he says he tapped it with his hand, in the same hand he has a walkie talkie. maybe he meant to tap it with his hand, but he hit it with the walkie talkie. he then checks what kind of car she has, then says, “well there’s no damage” the damage was not the concern, the concern was the loud noise we heard against the car.

he says, finally, that he needs to tell us which way to go. my grandma asks which way. he says, “thank you! i like her!” then he tells us to go left. so my mom rolled up her window and went left. we were getting out of the car, and as we’re waiting for my little sister to get out, the same parking attendant is walking toward us in a huff.

the first thing he says is to my mom, “you have a real attitude today huh?” my mom says that she didn’t have an attitude, she was just scared from her car being hit. he, then, says, “oh now you’re being racist?” my mom says it wasn’t that, her car was hit. my sister, 14 years old, says, “look at my baby!” she currently has a robot baby for her health class, the baby doll is Black. he replies, arguing with a CHILD now, “that is a plastic baby doll!”

he comments that his manager watched the whole thing and offered us a refund to leave.

my grandma steps in and says to just ignore him. he says, “i’m talking to her!” then he says repeatedly, “you guys can just leave and i’ll give you your $10 back”. over and over he said this.

i asked, “are you telling us we have to leave or are you just offering that?” he would not answer, and repeatedly interrupted me. just bickering with us. we started walking away to head into the market, he sternly says, “i can tow your car!” we ignored him. he says, “i’m going to tow it!”

as we were walking in we could see him rushing over to another employee and pointing at us.

when we got back and were leaving, my mom was scared to have another interaction with him. she has a heart problem and this was very distressing. she asked me to drive in case we had to interact with him on the way out. as we were driving out, he was in an ATV and pouting at...

The vendors all seemed lovely but it's just too packed. Wait 20 minutes driving around for a parking spot because all the lots are full, walk 20 minutes to the place because you had to park 10 blocks away, 20 minutes to walk to the vendor you want, and then 20 minutes in line ordering and waiting for your food/drink. Repeat. Feels just like Disney World! Everything is too close together to be able to move around, and since it's Minnesota you get the wide bodied slack jaws standing three abreast in the middle of the walkway and everyone is too passive to move around them thinking they must be in line for something or that traffic must be slow up ahead (much familiar to anyone who drives on I-94 with regularity). God help you if you have a stroller or even just a small child trying to navigate. Hate to say it but they need to start selling tickets to limit the amount of people, and even then it still needs a layout change to give people room to walk up to the booths on either side and also walk both directions between them. As it is now I cannot recommend...

We came here on a warm winter night with our bellies full and that is totally the way to do it. Parking can be really rough, but what is rougher are those long lines to get food. If you come hungry and have to wait in the line, see I can see where it would be extra frustrating. There’s lots of cool things to buy and see for Christmas gifts, somethings you’ll see at every holiday market but others were more unique. The Atmosphere sweet and so Christmasy. The gluwhein, while it’s not something I bet people would drink all the time really does a lot to keep you warm on a cold night. We thought the price for it was pretty good considering it comes with a collectible mug at a pretty fair price. There’s lots to do inside the train station depot for kids and families if it gets too cold outside. We got so lucky with parking but I can imagine if you try to find street parking would be...